UK-based Metalysis is expanding its research and commercial production capabilities, responding to rising demand for specialist metal powders and metal alloy powders. As a manufacturer of high scandium-loading aluminium scandium alloys, the company is gaining momentum as China's recent export controls on rare earth elements — which include scandium and aluminium scandium alloys — push buyers to seek non-Chinese supply.
Argus spoke with chief executive Nitesh Shah about how geopolitical tensions can create upsides for a western alloy maker, and the challenges faced by midstream companies in the UK. Edited highlights follow:
Could you share an update on Metalysis' operations?
We have two sites. At the R&D site we have two types of reactors — Gen 1s and Gen 2s. For any product development we go from Gen 1s and 2s (which provide gs and kgs of output) to Gen 3s and Gen 4s, which are our production-sized reactors and which can produce tonnes and tens of tonnes of output accordingly. We've recently increased the capacity of our Gen 1s by a third because we're getting a lot of interest from customers for new products, specifically lightweight refractory high entropy alloys. Consummately, with the Gen 2s we're also vastly increasing the number of cells. We are also seeing a lot of interest from the space side as oxygen is a by-product of our process and this can be captured for use in space propulsion.
On the commercial production side, we've got two Gen 3s and one Gen 4 — our Gen 4 has been recommissioned and we're making constant improvements to it, again in anticipation of imminent orders, and so we can increase throughput and make even better quality products to specific specifications.
How is Metalysis positioned within the metal powder and alloy sector?
We are a midstream processor — we buy metal oxides and our technology is one of deoxidation. Oxides go into a bath of molten salt, we pass a current through and oxygen is liberated — leaving a metal powder. We don't melt the metal powder at all — the melting is only of the salt — the electrolyte. We're therefore able to make a fully homogenised product and can handle materials with varying melting and boiling temperatures that conventional powder producers can't because their processes make it impossible to alloy materials with vastly different melting points. Through our FFC Cambridge electrolysis process then, we can make a wide range of alloys across 49 elements. We produce no hazardous chemicals or externalities, unlike a lot of the traditional processes in the Far East, and have low energy requirements.
Our focus is primarily on refractory metal alloys and powders, and we have a specialism in tantalum and scandium alloys used in advanced electronics.
We are in a period of heightened geopolitical tensions and trade barriers. How does this climate affect a business like yours?
We are a midstream processor based in the west and are able to process a range of feedstocks direct into metal powders; and bypass geopolitical risks since the oxides (including scandium oxide) we use are widely available from a variety of countries, such as Australia and Canada, or from African countries.
Metalysis produces an aluminium scandium alloy. Does China's new scandium export control affect your business?
Yes, it's primarily positive again. Our latest information is that if you're granted a license to export from China it could take about five months, so everyone's scrambling for alternative providers of scandium. Our understanding is that they will not allow anything with more than 1.5-2pc scandium content to be exported out of China, so it's very positive [for us] — we're getting lots of calls from people to say "we understand you make scandium alloys, let's talk". We're in a number of very advanced conversations with customers.
Aluminium scandium alloys are used in semiconductor production — what makes them different?
It's a whole new class of advanced material assets. Scandium has high piezoelectric properties — the more scandium you can load into your aluminium scandium powders, the better those qualities become. We're the only company in the world, we believe, that can make 36 wt pc scandium content aluminium scandium alloy. We have ongoing development work to increase that scandium content even further and we have a couple of large counterparties saying "can we enter development contracts for those higher scandium content alloys"?
The UK remains a tough environment for companies operating in the midstream. What changes would make the biggest impact, to help the midstream thrive?
The great thing about the UK is it comes up with fantastic ideas and invention but there's little support in taking those idea up to production scale. We advocate continued government support in many ways — in promoting our business, promoting our technology — but ultimately funding. It's not cheap to take such ideas from Cambridge University — as ours came out of — and progress them. To date we've invested nearly £150mn into this technology and that's not easy when there's very little financial support coming from the government or the banks. There is no point in financially helping mining companies only to see their oxides go to China for further processing. It is important to ensure the midstream players also exist and thrive in the UK and the west.
